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The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.

the drawings I saw make it look like it will be a nice facility. Even if they don't draw too many people like they currently are (its a shame, one of my favorite teams to watch night in and night out with the young talent they've got), it'll be a nice home for them to play in

Talk about the new turtle dome! The shape looks just a turtle shell in that logo.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.

The seating bowl on the first base side is now complete. They installed the last few risers on the front of the upper deck today. Also, all of the fixed portion main beams for the roof above the completed part of the upper deck are in place.

This just in: two salt-water aquariums will serve as the home plate backstop in the Marlins ballpark. Here's an artist's rendering of how it'll look:

The "backstop aquariums" will flank the two sides of home plate. So, like, you can watch the fish when you're not washing the Fish. We're told the material used for the see-through paneling is the same type of stuff used in bullet-proof glass. Still, you have to wonder what the unexpected impact of a Stephen Strasburg fastball will do to the fish.

I hope you'll be able to see it on TV too. Interesting idea, and it'll certainly make the place recognizable. I'm glad they aren't making the place as generic as Citi Field was last year

As for the glare issue, the roof isn't likely to ever be open for a day game, and there are other parks that have glass behind the plate with no issues (Cleveland). It's bulletproof glass with 1.5 inches thick on both sides! No foul ball can do anything to that, and it's not even directly behind the plate, or even in screamer territory. It'll play like the brick backstops in other parks. Cleaning fish tanks is not that big of a deal, and the grounds crew will need something to do when they don't have to tarp the infield every other night. The tiny fish they'll put into a tank that size will certainly be less of a distraction than the people right behind the backstop in every park.

"Each aquarium will be constructed using a durable fiberglass structure, and white crystal-clear acrylic panels 1.5 inches thick will be used for the viewing windows. To safeguard it from impact, Lexan -- the material used for bulletproof windows -- will be installed in front and in back of the acrylic panels. "

I hope you'll be able to see it on TV too. Interesting idea, and it'll certainly make the place recognizable. As for the glare issue, the roof isn't likely to ever be open for a day game, and there are other parks that have glass behind the plate with no issues

It is a very unique idea. And yes it will help define the Marlins new park. I just hope that it fits in with the overall ballpark design. I do like that they are taking chances with the design elements for this ballpark.

They released the seating chart in the Sun-Sentinel today. I couldn't find it online but I'll post it as soon as it becomes available. The price range is pretty comparable with the current prices at Joe Robbie, althought it seems as though there are more premium areas than the current park.

As for the Fish Tank, I love the concept. Let's hope the execution works just as well.

The fish tanks are an interesting concept. But a few people over at Yahoo Sports have made some valid points:

"It will suck for the people who pay good money for those front row seats, because as you try to watch the game you will get kids coming down trying to see the fishies and getting in your way (just as we see in that picture)."

"It would be better in a place where everyone could see it. Putting it in a spot where rich people get to see it all the time (and get bored with it) and TV viewers get it in the background with end-of-inning close-ups isn't the best use for that."

"What's going to be interesting is when the fish die and start floating in the middle of a game. The question, though, is who will be there to see it?"

"An so-so idea, and a HORRIBLE place to put it . . . . . it needs to placed where everyone can enjoy it. They should put them in the main corridors where everyone can enjoy them, not use them as a backstop. Also, and this is BIG, salt water fish are delicate and very susceptible to shock. They don't need foul balls banging off the front of the aquarium every inning or so, as well as all the commotion that's going to be around those tanks. It also appears that the aquariums are going to get a LOT of sunlight. The water temperature is probably going to get too hot in the daytime, when the roof is open."

They released the seating chart in the Sun-Sentinel today. I couldn't find it online but I'll post it as soon as it becomes available. The price range is pretty comparable with the current prices at Joe Robbie, althought it seems as though there are more premium areas than the current park.

As for the Fish Tank, I love the concept. Let's hope the execution works just as well.

Anyone know the width of the seats, and if some seats are wider, such as right now the Club Seats are wider than regular seats in their current stadium, JoeRobbie/ProPlayer/Dolphins/LandShark/SunLife/etc etc etc.

I AM SO THANKFUL FOR BEING BORN IN NEW YORK AND FOR BEING A FAN OF ALL NEW YORK SPORTS TEAMS

Anyone know the width of the seats, and if some seats are wider, such as right now the Club Seats are wider than regular seats in their current stadium, JoeRobbie/ProPlayer/Dolphins/LandShark/SunLife/etc etc etc.

I'm sure the Diamond Club seats will be wider than the seats at Joe Robbie. From the picture in the paper, it looks as though they'll be similar in style to those behind homeplate at New Yankee Stadium and Nationals Park.

This was shown on the game broadcast last night, maybe a hint at the new team logos? That'd be a pretty cool, not to mention unique, color scheme, and it seams to go with the colorful designs of the park. Normally I wouldn't like this kind of color combination, but I'm so sick of the bland designs MLB has had out there the last few years. Too many Red-White-Blue teams, not enough variety. The Rays, Padres, Brewers, DBacks, and Astros need to go back to their old color schemes of Green-Blue, Brown-Gold, Blue-Yellow, Purple-Teal-Gold, and Orange, respectively, and the M's and Jay's need to enhance the Blue and Teal in their Jersey's, respectively. Get some variety in MLB!

Looks like a great stadium, but did anyone else notice that even in a mock seating chart they managed to show seats that are going to have extremely blocked views by the scoreboard? I mean they row they let you see on that site already is close to the board, but then if you look back on the site there are like 10 to 15 more rows above it, all looking more and more blocked the higher you go.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.